TSP questions

I just bought some powdered TSP to try because of Dangerous Daves recommendation on another post. I am still testing to find the right amount of slip. I saw 1 tablespoon per gallon, correct. What would a little more do?

Could tsp be added to GG4 for a bit more slip instead of dish soap? If so what ratio would you recommend? The whole reason I use GG4 is because of less residue. I only have monthly & quarterly cleans commercially, so everyone has been very happy with how they look in between cleans. (I understand if a litl bit of dish soap wouldnt make that much difference but Ive never tested it, hmm, which I think I will now…because when I 1st started I did a soap test of 4 kinds on a row of 4 commercial panes and after a month noted how each looked)

With TSP I was wondering also about any adverse effects to other building materials? Drips from solution on brick, concrete, frames, etc. What about interior use? I have been very happy with GG4 but with the liquidators its been off and on depending on the job whether it has enough slip. So when I read tsp(not the substitutes) can have more slip than dish soap I thought why not try it. Thanks as always…

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1 tablespoon per gallon is the sweet spot. It already has crazy slip so more than that and you’re past the point of diminishing returns. Same as dish soap, glass gleam, or any other detergent, the more you use, the more haze you will get when you miss a spot. The nice thing about TSP is the haze will wipe right off with a dry towel easily, where soap requires you to re-wet smears before they disappear.

TSP in window cleaning concentrations will not harm anything that regular water and dish soap wouldn’t. Phosphates were used for a long time to clean EVERYTHING until science found out how rampant algae growths became from the runoff.
Nowadays the TSP we buy is marketed for prepping surfaces before painting because it leaves the surface with ZERO residue when used properly.

My only gripe with TSP is that is does not form any suds and is harder for me to see than a nice soapy mixture on the glass.

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Thanks Samuel! Do you find it leaves the glass as shiny as GG4? Does it leave less or about the same residue? Since Im just now trying it today I will find out while using it but just asking for your experience as well. Very interesting history as well. I will have to look into it more.

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I haven’t compared TSP side by side with GG for sparkle but I don’t believe the GG has much of an advantage in that department. Clean glass is clean glass and TSP gets it as clean as anything. Dish soap loses in the sparkle department by a small margin due to the petroleum residue left in the glass pores after the squeegee blade has passed.

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That makes sense about dish soap. I look forward to seeing if there is much of a difference. I mean I remember your post about corn starch, & how it really makes glass glisten/shine. So I dont know exactly what if/any additives GG4 has, but I do know that I started cleaning with ABC Glisten, tried both Dawn & Joy later, GG3 then 4 and after switching to 4 it was interesting how many clients noticed “something” about the windows or made comments like “Ive never seen them this clean, or they have NEVER looked this good!” So at least in my experience there was some kind of visible difference with the glass using gg4 but obviously not everyone will agree and thats fine. (Or maybe people in western OK just arent used to clean glass because of all the dirt haha jk) I definitely have appreciated your insight. Thanks bro!

Any time.

Edit: I do believe that GG4 has a very fine abrasive incorporated that gives the glass surface a “micro polish” similar to cornstarch. TSP dissolves into tiny granules as well and I think it falls into the same category. It wouldn’t surprise me if Titan labs incorporated something like TSP in the formula for glass gleam, based on the similarity in performance and feel when you mix TSP at lower concentrations in the water.

Try mixing 2 teaspoons per gallon of TSP and see how close it feels to glass gleam.

Nice…Now we are on to something. :sunglasses: Did a double hung top & bottom with each and they both look great. Hard to see any difference. (My mind is telling me the gg4 is a nth shinier but its probably an illusion haha) I will still do my side to side test later this month.

How about using it to clean screens? Should be same principle as with soap possibly? lm actually visiting my in-laws place. The screens havent been touched in awhile, so tried it on one and came out ok.

You made me think of car cleaning. How certain products differ. Some may be shinier after application than others and how polish helps bring out the shine. Very cool.

I’ve never used it for screens but there’s no reason to think it wouldn’t work just fine. Personally I like powdered tide with bleach alternative for screen washing as it makes the white vinyl frames look really nice.

Samuel How does the dry time of tsp compare to GG? One of the main reasons I use GG is because it stays wet so long. In the summer in TX it makes a big difference.

Yeah I have yet to try that as well. Didnt have very many screens to clean in OK because of all the dirt usually no one used them (opened their windows I mean) so I would just suggest taking them off to enjoy their clean view. Made it easier for ext cleaning and most really like it. But…when I get started in PA screens are everywhere and full size seem to be popular too so I will have to do more (I keep delaying trying to get started there because things have been working fine but just had a friend casually ask me about my work & then asked how much per window and then said “ok put me on your list” I was like “uh, ok cool!” We shall see…hope things continue going well your way.

Oh yeah sorry…whats the ratio on that by the way? (tide w/bleach alternative)
Saw it in the past just forgot…or I could look it up :thinking:

Just tried it. Side by side in direct sun maybe 80 deg. With less water gg4 outlasted the tsp. But when I soaked both of the strip washers the tsp seemed to last as long if not longer…dont know how that translates to interior glass but exterior should be good. I will know more end of the month when I use it for my commercial/storefront round. But yeah what do you think Samuel?

That was at the 1 tablespoon per gallon ratio…

I like this thread. I will be buying some TSP-Phosphate Free and will post how it works in Homer, Alaska. We have lots of clay dust and salt air and lots of Windows with years of deferred maintenance.

Without actual scientific testing, my guess is the dry time will be similar enough so as to not make a practical difference. I believe glass gleam 4 uses a solute (perhaps sodium-based?) as their “wetting agent” to slow the surface evaporation by raising the boiling point of the water.

This happens any time a solute is introduced to a pure solvent. The solute can be ANYTHING (TSP, table salt, sugar, etc.) The solvent in this case is water. The more dissolved solute is introduced, the higher the boiling point of the solution, the slower the evaporation. Higher boiling point means the liquid must reach a higher temperature before conversion to vapor when evaporation occurs.

This will never be 100% observable in practical terms as each day on the job introduces variations in humidity, temperature, total dissolved solute, volume of water, total surface area of the glass, etc. Suffice to say that GG4 works just fine and so does TSP. It doesn’t matter which you use as long as you get the results you want.

Addendum: It has also been observed that a solute can LOWER the specific heat of water, which means that its temperature will fluctuate more quickly, but the faster fluctuation is offset by the increase in resistance to changing states of matter. Hence why salt water heats up and cools down faster than plain water, but also why it will not freeze or boil as quickly as plain water.

Addendum #2: If you REALLY want to chill a beer quickly, put it in a bath of ice and salt water.

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I mix about a teaspoon per gallon and use a stiff bristled wide broom to wet and scrub

Cool…thanks.

You’re most welcome. Sorry for the exhaustive analysis. I may have gotten carried away there…

When did you do your research into this? I love answers that you have to research more & look up definitions to understand :wink: Very cool stuff…